I Do.

“You ready?” Said a muffled voice.

Ellie checked her reflection one more time, turning from side to side and letting out a big sigh. There wasn’t anything wrong with her outfit, but she had heard a rumor floating around that most everything in the wedding was chosen with her in mind; the flowers in the bouquet were firecracker penstemons, her favorite, which are not typically used in bridal bouquets. And, supposedly, this specific shade of violet was chosen for the bridesmaid's dresses so Ellie’s green eyes would sparkle. They most certainly did.

But why was she the centerpiece of the wedding? It was in character for Tara, the bride, to devote anything she could to another person, especially her maid of honor, but today wasn’t about Ellie. She didn’t want any of this to be about her; she went along with it to make Tara happy. The thought of it made her grip her bridesmaid’s bouquet so tightly her painted nails dug into the stems.

Forcing herself to shelve any anxieties she was feeling, she opened the bathroom door and met the smiling face of Raven, her friend and fellow bridesmaid.

Ellie equipped a fake, but bright smile. “Let’s go.”

On the car ride there, Raven was in a fantastic mood, showing it by grooving and singing along to the tunes she played on the stereo. The mountains rolled by as Ellie stared longingly out the window, casually nodding her head to the beat.

The music quieted. “Are you feeling okay, El? You aren’t singing along.”

Ellie sat back in her seat, realizing her favorite song was playing. She shrugged. “Yeah, I think so.”

Raven gave her a sympathetic look. “There’s plenty of other guys for you to date, El. Jared is just one of many.”

“That’s not really my problem,” Ellie muttered. “Yeah, I like Jared, but it’s more that Tara is always taking the guys I like.”

“You never told me that,” Raven said, looking incredulous. “Who else did she take?”

Ellie waved her hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter, you never met them. She won’t do it anymore, that’s for sure.”

“At least she’s actually made it this far with someone,” Raven said. “She’s terrible at keeping relationships.”

“You’re right. Wonder what’s different this time.”

“Either way, I’m surprised you’re taking it so well.”

Ellie turned up the music, avoiding the topic. They made small talk, chatting in between songs until they pulled up to the venue—a beautiful location in the local favorite canyon. Evergreens towered around a clearing with a grand lodge in the center, surrounded by auxiliary facilities, including the pavilion where the festivities would take place. Caterers bustled about, carrying different dishes and trays of drinks from table to table.

Raven looked around in awe. “Wow. They weren’t kidding. It’s a little smaller than I expected, but it’s definitely bougie.”

Ellie also really liked this venue. So much so, that she had actually mentioned wanting to have her wedding here once upon a time. She stuffed away the frustration she felt, right next to the anxiety.

“Tara sure knows how to pick her venues… Oh! That’s where she’ll be,” She said, pointing to a white tent off to the side. “Let’s go see her.”

Upon parting the flap of the tent, the two friends laid eyes on Tara. Rolling waves of blonde hair fell from beneath a long bridal veil. An ornate patterned dress clung to her frame, flowing into a longer skirt that covered her feet. A big bouquet of purple flowers lay on a table nearby. A third bridesmaid was fidgeting with Tara’s hair and the veil, trying to make them sit perfectly.

Tara’s eyes lit up as she saw Ellie, who extended her arms with a bright, excited expression on her face, bouncing towards Tara.

“Aaaaah! You look so good!”

Tara returned the smile as she approached, but didn’t mirror Ellie’s excited attitude like she typically did. They broke apart, and Ellie slid her hand down Tara’s arm to her wrist. Tara winced.

“What happened to your wrist?” Ellie asked, trying to get a closer look.

Tara ripped it away before she could. “I bumped it on something. It’s nothing.”

“Okay…” Ellie said, lifting an eyebrow. “Well, are you ready?”

Tara sighed, looking up. Tears gathered in her eyes. “I think so. Raven, Riley, could I have a moment with my maid of honor?”

The two girls left the tent, leaving Tara and Ellie alone.

Tara turned to the mirror in the tent. “Ellie, are you sure about this?”

Ellie’s smile dimmed. “Of course I’m sure. The dress was custom made for you, why—”

“No, not the dress,” Tara raised her hands in frustration as she tried to put together her words. She opened her mouth to speak, but someone opened the flap of the tent, interrupting her.

“The ceremony is in ten minutes, I hope you’re done fussing.”

Ellie turned. In the doorway was Susan, Tara’s mother. She had a quizzical look in her eye as she examined her daughter. Ellie picked up her bouquet, ready to leave, but Tara didn’t move, so Susan took the silence as a window to voice her thoughts.

“Have you eaten anything yet?” Susan asked. “You might want to.”

“I might just have some cake later,” Tara said. “I’m not hungry.”

“You won’t eat the lasagna I specifically ordered for you,” Susan chided, “but you’ll eat the strawberry cake you’ve detested your whole life? Who are you, and what have you done with Tara?”

“The cake is strawberry?” Ellie asked incredulously, her mouth watering. “What on earth made you pick that flavor?”

Tara fidgeted with her hands and didn’t respond.

Susan shook her head. “I’ve told her many times, Ellie, that Jared boy is no good for her. She’s been upside down ever since they got engaged. Next thing we know, she’ll be wearing high heels!”

Ellie turned to Tara with a raised eyebrow. “Are you wearing high heels?”

Tara smiled and lifted her skirt. She was wearing white sneakers. “I’m not that far gone.”

The three of them laughed.

“Mom, I need to be alone with Ellie, can we have a moment?”

“Anything you can say to her, you can say in front of me,” Susan said haughtily.

Tara sighed. “Fine. Ellie,” she began, dropping her hands to her side. Ellie could tell there was something Tara wanted to say. It swam darkly within her and was itching to get out, but it couldn’t surface in the presence of Susan.

“Do you remember,” Tara began. “How we used to pass notes to each other?”

A memory popped into Ellie’s head of Tara passing a red slip of paper to her with coded writing on it. The system was used in case the teacher caught them and had them read the note out loud to the class. What was more important, though, was the color of the paper—red was specifically used for talking about crushes.

“Yeah, why?”

Tara’s eyes flicked down at Ellie’s chest. She looked down at her bouquet, which she was holding in front of her, and her eyes landed on the firecracker penstemons, which were a bright shade of scarlet.

Anger flared within Ellie, threatening to unleash what she had stuffed away for the sake of the wedding. “What are you trying to say?”

Tara looked anxiously between Susan and Ellie. Susan, sensing tension, decided to leave, dropping the flap of the tent behind her. “Seven minutes ladies,” she called behind her.

Tara’s tone became frantic. “Ellie, I’ve been trying to tell you for a while now but I haven’t gotten the chance. Things aren’t going the way they should.” She glanced around, checking for passing shadows that could eavesdrop, and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“So, what, you expect me to do it for you?”

Tara’s eyes widened.

“You always knew I liked Jared, yet you’re the one who got to him first,” Ellie said, her voice rising. Tara put a finger to her lips to try and hush her, but Ellie didn’t care. “So now you’ve set up my ideal wedding with all my favorite things, and you’re now deciding to just drop him into my lap?! On your wedding day?!”

Tara was well and truly crying now.

“I can’t believe you!” Ellie threw down her bouquet and stormed out of the tent. She headed straight for the bathrooms, which were decently distanced from the venue. She went around back, out of view of everyone else, and fell into a seated fetal position, crying. She wasn’t sure how many minutes passed before she heard someone approach.

“That bad, huh?”

Ellie looked up. Jared was standing a few feet away, looking down at her. She wiped her eyes and her nose, trying to take a cleansing breath, embarrassed at him finding her like this. She nodded.

“What happened?”

She wanted to spill everything. Her feelings for him, the frustration of helping set up a wedding for the man she loved, Tara revealing her oddly timed, color-coded intentions far too late… but stronger than that was the promise she and Tara had made to each other about never revealing codes in their notes. It stopped her before she could betray it.

“Nothing. Just an argument.”

Jared extended a hand to her to help her up. She took it.

“Are you sure?”

“I think so,” Ellie said timidly.

“Okay,” Jared said, releasing Ellie’s hand. “You look really good in that dress by the way. It makes your eyes stand out.”

His eyes bore deep into hers, and Ellie felt something inside her unlock. If Tara really was trying to pass him to her like a red note, then that meant he was hers now. Why should the wedding move forward? Why should she allow Tara to take Jared from her?

As if reading her mind, Jared stepped forward and Ellie’s back hit the wall. He placed his hand over her shoulder as his face drifted close to hers.

“Tara’s been a little difficult lately,” Jared said, searching Ellie’s face. “I think she might be getting cold feet.”

Ellie didn’t respond. Her mind was far away, and it felt like her breath had left her. Her eyes drifted down to his lapel, where his boutonniere was pinned. A purple orchid. Her eyes then drifted to his purple tie. As Jared leaned in close to kiss Ellie, another memory struck her like lightning: a time when she had passed Tara a purple note, which was their code for emotional turmoil.

Tara had glanced at Ellie’s dress back in the tent, not the bouquet.

Ellie pushed Jared away from her before he could kiss her, and sidled away, turning back to the wedding. Her heart thumped.

“We should get to the ceremony,” Ellie said, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Are you—”

Jared grabbed Ellie’s shoulders and threw her against the wall, pinning her. His face was filled with an anger she had never witnessed from him before. Her legs shook under his stare.

“Don’t you dare say anything to Tara about what just happened. Got it?”

Ellie nodded fervently, and Jared let her go, adjusting his jacket as he stormed off. She stood there, trembling, hyperventilating. What was she supposed to do? She checked around the corner to make sure Jared was gone and saw him heading across the clearing towards the pavilion. It looked like people were beginning to take their seats.

Ellie swore under her breath. She took off her high heels and ran into the crowd heading to the pavilion, searching for Tara’s mother.

“Susan!”

“I’m right here, darling, there’s no need to shout.”

She was immediately to Ellie’s right. Ellie let out a breath of relief.

“Susan, you have to do something, the wedding can’t continue.”

Susan smiled triumphantly. “Finally, we see eye to eye. What changed?”

Ellie opened her mouth to share everything with Susan, but Jared appeared from nowhere, wrapping his arm rather tightly around Ellie’s shoulders.

“You’d better get to your seats, ladies,” Jared said, an innocent smile on his face. “We’re about to start.”

He met eyes with Ellie, and she saw the same anger, warning her that he knew what she was up to.

“We’ll be up there shortly,” Susan said sternly. “You have your own place to be, Jared, so get moving.”

Surprised at her sudden change of tone, he let Ellie go and made his way back to the pavilion. Ellie looked at Susan with a pleading eye, and they seemed to reach an understanding.

“If you don’t want the wedding to continue, you’d better say something,” Susan said, her tone uncharacteristically hushed and worried. “You know Tara, she never listens to me. If you say something, she’ll listen. But you’re running out of time.”

A scary idea came to Ellie’s mind. “Okay. I’ll see you up there.”

Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest as she hurriedly entered the pavilion, standing in line with Raven and Riley. She was the only one without a bouquet; instead, she realized, she was still holding her shoes. Susan took her seat in the front row. A couple of suffocating minutes passed, then the music began playing and everyone stood. Jared turned around to see Tara, a big, tremulous smile carefully held on her face. Her eyes were puffy, but no tears fell. Ellie tried to get Tara’s attention, but it seemed that Tara was ignoring her. She came up to Jared, in front of the officiator, facing away from Ellie. Jared met Ellie’s face over Tara’s shoulder with a calm smile, still wearing that warning beneath his eyes.

The priest began, droning on in a weary and practiced voice that came with years of experience. Ellie’s anxiety escalated as Tara joined her shaky hands to Jared’s calm and still ones. Tara’s sleeve pulled away from her wrist, revealing a bruise that was only slightly covered by concealer. Ellie’s surprise at makeup being used on a wrist barely registered over the fury of seeing such damage on her friend.

The officiator continued. “If there is anyone here who believes that these two should not be married, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

Silence. Jared’s eyes flicked over and bored into Ellie’s, threatening his wrath. She met eyes with Susan in the audience, who simply nodded.

Ellie raised her hand high. “I do.”